Policy

Foreign direct investment’s role in bringing in finance, superior technology and other resources is undoubtedly a critical one. The Indian government has tried to create a conducive environment for enabling flow of foreign investments into the solar energy sector in the country, but the norms need to be eased further to really push the industry to its maximum growth potential.

The latest edition of a clean power jobs survey produced by IRENA and the International Labour Organization has stressed the important role which will need to be played by the public sector if the energy transition’s employment benefits are to be shared equally.

Parity in the total cost of ownership already exists for electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers (with subsidy) vis-à-vis their internal combustion engine counterparts. Policy impetus, coupled with the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for batteries and auto components (exclusively covering EVs), is likely to further reduce costs and accelerate the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). The transition will also open up the market for new-age companies and innovators across the value chain.

India has seen substantial activity in the domestic battery storage and green hydrogen markets, from the entry of Reliance and Acme Solar in green hydrogen to gigawatt-scale battery storage tenders by NTPC and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). There are more private ventures in the offing, indicating the government’s policy push is in the right direction.  

A robust distributed renewable energy ecosystem with a strong domestic industry will help provide good-quality, reliable electricity to rural households and enterprises and thus turbocharge green entrepreneurship—paving the way for a self-reliant India.

A new report says India has an estimated 29% of the installed fossil fuel capacity in excess of what is required to meet its 2021 peak electricity demand. This 67.6 GW overcapacity, all coming from coal-fired plants, is costing around US$ 2.1 billion (INR 15,780 crore) annually in fixed operating and maintenance costs. 

Today, both Reliance and Fortescue are realizing the huge investment, employment, import replacement and export opportunities in zero emissions industries of the future, both for India and Australia. And they look to be leading the way, fully supported by global financial institutions increasingly seeking to deploy trillions of patient capital in low volatility, non-commodity price exposed zero-emissions energy sources of the future.

The Indian solar power sector is undergoing a technology-backed transformation at every stage from manufacturing to installation to improve cost and performance efficiency.

A power system modeling study, jointly carried out by Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT) and Wärtsilä, explores the feasibility of a net-zero-emissions power system in India by 2050. It shows that an all-renewables power system, when paired with flexible generation technologies (thermal balancing power plants and energy storage), can improve the affordability of electricity while ensuring the reliability of system operations.

A combination of booming demand for coal-fired power and a shortage of the black stuff – exacerbated by a political row with Australia – have forced up prices to the extent fossil fuel generators are making a loss on every unit of electricity they produce. pv magazine‘s Vincent Shaw considers the potential solutions.